Cho had become afraid of walking the castle corridors alone at night. She was not proud of it by any means, but she could not help it.

It had started with the cat. And students, Hogwarts students, no different than Cho herself, had followed.

There was a dark shadow draped over the school this year, one that took the sunlight that would stream in from the windows and scorch it to charcoal. Dark, dark charcoal. The part of the flame that bore no brightness.

Tonight was no different.

Cho had lost track of time in the library, poring over books on pixies- troublesome creatures- for Professor Lockhart's class. It wasn't even a class so much as an advertisement- a daily commercial for all things Gilderoy Lockhart. Cho absolutely despised it, though what she despised more was the way so many of the girls in her class tended to bow to Lockhart's every whim.

But Gilderoy Lockhart was the last thing on her mind now as she made her way through the halls, books clutched to her chest, acutely aware of the sound of her own feet against the floor. The walk back to Ravenclaw tower was by no means a long one, but it felt like ages to Cho.

With every step she took she could not help but peer around the corner of the next hallway, half-expecting to see a monster.

She reminded herself for the umpteenth time that Hogwarts was a safe haven.

That there were charms and hexes and professors, all there for the sole purpose of her protection.

But she still could not shake that horrible feeling of fear. Fear, and vulnerability.

She despised that most of all.


Cho was nearly back to the dorms when she heard the sound of voices.

"A basilisk? Who would've known?"

"It makes sense, doesn't it?"

Cho held her breath, afraid to make her presence known.

A basilisk.

A feeling of nausea swept through her as she pictured it.

So that was the monster they were all speaking of, then.

The voices drew closer, and Cho pressed herself up against the wall as so not to be seen. A moment later she chided herself- what was she doing?

It wasn't the basilisk itself, merely two people discussing the matter.

She reminded herself that a dozen times over as she stepped out of the charcoal shadows and continued on her way.

"Cho Chang?"

The voice saying her name was stilted, yet familiar.

Cho whirled around- and found herself face-to-face with Penelope Clearwater, Ravenclaw prefect, a mirror held like precious treasure in her hands. She dimly registered that Hermione Granger was walking beside her.

"Penelope," she stammered out. "Sorry, I was studying and just now heading back…" She trailed off, not wanting to waste her words on such mundane things. Instead, Cho cut to the chase. "Did you say basilisk?" she asked, whispering for no discernable reason.

Penelope pursed her lips in a frown, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Yes. We ourselves were just conducting research of our own in the library," she said in her usual pompous tone.

"Oh," Cho replied, not quite sure how to respond to that. Small talk had never been her strong suit.

"Anyway, it's late and we should not be wandering the halls at this hour," Penelope declared. She turned as if to walk away- and then she froze in place.

It wasn't a freeze as if to stop in her tracks.

No, it was as though she was actually paralyzed. She did not blink. She did not move. Her foot was raised as though to take another step, but it never came.

Cho could make out the sound of hissing. Her breath hitched, and she dared not move.

Hermione, on the other hand, was quick to follow Penelope. Cho's distraught what are you thinking?! went largely ignored as she too stepped forward.

Cho didn't even have to look to know she'd met the same fate. Her third footstep never sounded, and the hissing continued.

The basilisk.

Cho was not proud of it, but she turned on her heel and ran.

She was a coward. A coward who could not even protect her own prefect. A coward who ran away in the face of danger, as so to save her own skin.

A coward and a fool.

She did not stop until she made it, breathless, to the Hospital Wing.

Her voice wavered as she told Madame Pomfrey what had happened. Penelope, their invincible prefect, now a statue of ice.

Perhaps the charcoal shadows were laughing at them all, now.

The thought sent a shiver down Cho's spine.


She was running again now, this time back to the safe haven of the Ravenclaw dorms. Only when she was securely in her room, blankets wound around herself, did she finally let her guard down.

The tears came in earnest, shuddering sobs she was grateful no one else could hear.

She did not sleep that night

She watched the shadows with wide eyes, for who knew what sort of monsters were lurking within them?